


After the Battle

by Tigerkid14



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Bering and Wells, Character Death, mentions Pyka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 07:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1597109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tigerkid14/pseuds/Tigerkid14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the funeral of a friend, Helena and Claudia have a talk about love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Battle

**Author's Note:**

> With many thanks to GunBunnyCentral for providing the nudges.

After the service Helena stood alone beside the grave holding a bouquet of flowers. Everyone else had slowly departed while she waited, gazing thoughtfully at the headstone.

The stillness of the cemetery surrounded her as she read and reread the words engraved there:

 

_MYKA O. BERING_

_FOR AFTER THE BATTLE_

_COMES QUIET_

 

Her hands trembled slightly as she bent and gently placed the flowers to rest on the freshly turned earth in front of the headstone.

As she straightened, she sensed another presence nearby and turned, stretching out a hand to draw Claudia to her side, hugging the younger with one arm while they both stood in silence for several long moments.

If she let herself, for just one moment Helena could forget all the years that had lined her skin with wrinkles and turned her hair to grey and imagine that they were both still as young as Claudia looked. But she knew better.

The wisdom and depth in Claudia’s eyes gave away her true age when she drew away from Helena enough to watch her face as she spoke gently. “She loved you.”

The words carried no accusation yet Helena felt one anyway. “Yes, darling, I know.” She gave a humorless laugh. “Oh, how I know.”

Her eyes sought out the headstone and read the words once more:

 

_FOR AFTER THE BATTLE_

_COMES QUIET_

 

They were her words. Of course Myka had chosen her words to put on her gravestone. And from _The Time Machine_ , no less. Helena didn’t know why she hadn’t expected that. In life they had known each other best but apparently it took death for Myka to surprise her.

Claudia watched her with eyes full of questions and sorrow. Helena could do nothing about the sorrow so she tried to answer the questions. “In many ways, Myka and I were very compatible but we were always out of sync with each other romantically. We respected and admired each other and there was a great deal of affection.”

“I’ll say!” Claudia interjected.

“But whenever we tried to act upon those feelings, there would inevitably be some sort of misstep, like dance partners when one person is a beat too fast or too slow. Both may be excellent dancers but when there is a disconnect between the two, the dance cannot truly happen. An accomplished dancer can adapt to suit a less accomplished partner but when it came to matters of the heart, neither Myka or myself were quite that talented.”

She paused and smiled sadly. “I suppose, were Myka here, she’d prefer I use a fencing metaphor instead.”

This drew a small smile in return from Claudia.

“In the end, we came to an understanding that permitted us to retain the respect and admiration as well as a measure of the affection. It wasn’t perfect but life so rarely is.”

“So you guys never getting together wasn’t because of…” Claudia’s voice trailed off leaving the question unfinished but her eyes involuntarily flickered toward another headstone a little ways on from Myka’s.

Helena followed the movement and turned her head to look.

He had chosen the inscription himself and it read simply:

 

_PETER LATTIMER_

_NOT CRAZY OR EVIL_

_JUST DEAD_

 

She had to smile momentarily as she remembered his written instructions.

_'Only use this one if it’s true. Otherwise get Myka or H.G. to pick out something cool.’_

Given his concerns about becoming evil or going crazy, Helena was glad for his sake they’d been able to use his preferred inscription, even if it had been used too soon.

She sighed inwardly. It was always too soon.

Aloud she answered Claudia’s unfinished question. “No, Myka and I did not work out for our own reasons. What was between her and Pete was a separate affair.”

“She didn’t love him the way she loved you.” Claudia said fiercely.

“No.” Helena easily agreed. “What they had was solely their own. The romance between them may have been brief but their friendship always held strong.”

She released Claudia from the one armed hug so she could turn and face the younger woman. Her hand came up and cupped Claudia’s cheek as she spoke. “Love comes in many forms, darling, and that which burns brightest may not burn longest but it all brings light and warmth to the soul. None of it is to be discounted simply because it does not fit with other people’s expectations of what they believe love should be.

“Myka loved me. She loved Pete. She loved you and all the others too. When Myka Bering chose to love she did so with her whole soul and being and in the end, it is the love that remains, no matter the form it took.”

Helena brushed away the tears on Claudia’s cheek with her thumbs before pressing a kiss to her forehead and pulling her into a tight hug, letting Claudia cry as she held her.

Those who had known Claudia the longest could see beyond the lie of her physical appearance of youth to the old soul within. They were none of them as young as they once were and though Claudia bore few of the physical markers of time, Helena suspected she bore the marks on her soul harder than any of the rest of them. And there were so few left now who had known Claudia for so long.

They stood in the cemetery for a long time while Helena held Claudia until her tears stopped and dried and eventually, of her own accord, Claudia loosened her grip and released Helena to step back.

They were long past any embarrassment such an emotional outpouring might have once caused.

Instead, Helena straightened her attire while Claudia did the same with her own clothes and then waited while Claudia attempted a quick fix on her makeup.

When they were both sorted, Claudia smiled in gratitude at Helena. “Thanks, I needed that.”

“Any time, darling.” Helena gestured further into the cemetery. “Would you like some more time?”

Claudia shook her head. “No, not today. They’ll understand.”

Leena’s grave was in that direction and one other. The words were not visible from this distance but they both knew that a short walk along would bring them into view. He had left no instructions for his headstone. In the end they had all agreed upon the simplest and most apt inscription:

 

_ARTHUR NIELSEN_

_BELOVED FATHER_

 

“Well then, come along, darling, and no dawdling.” She held out her hand for Claudia to take as they walked toward the entrance and the waiting car. “There’s no telling what sort of mischief the others have gotten up to in our absence and you have a Warehouse to run.”

“And to love?” Claudia asked, grinning.

“Yes, and to love as well.”

She paused as Claudia climbed into the car ahead of her, looking back toward the spot of freshly turned earth and the newly erected headstone.

“Always to love.”


End file.
